Review: Updated Comfort In Cathay Pacific A350-900 Business Class

For the connoisseurs, picking a long haul flight isn’t just about the airline, or the seat – it’s about the actual plane as well. At the top of any aficionados list you’ll find the Boeing 787, or the Airbus A350. The A350, much like its Boeing counterpart, is a flying marvel, part of the new generation of aircraft offering a more desirable cabin experience via more preferable air pressure, all with reduced noise.

The reason you care about these things is that both help to reduce the effects of jet lag. You’re breathing better air, at pressures which more resemble the ground. For most of the destinations that Cathay flies, that’s kind of important.

After quite a few test runs, my opinion of business class on the Cathay Pacific A350 is one without “oohs”, “aah’s” or other major superlatives, but one that’s just so consistently solid across so many disciplines that it culminates into something very high end. It’s not flashy, there’s nothing over the top, yet it’s got to be in the conversation of top 10 business class options.

Here’s where to sit, what to order and how to make the most of your Cathay Pacific A350 business class experience. And yes, it’s great.

On Board The Cathay A350

Cathay Pacific operates both the Airbus A350-900, and the stretched -1000 version as well. On the shorter -900 version the business class cabin is divided into one much larger cabin, and a smaller “mini cabin”. Unlike the Boeing 777 mini cabin, which provides increased seclusion, I wouldn’t strictly recommend aiming for it on the Airbus A350-900. There’s two reasons for this.

For starters, if the plane boards from the second door, which it often does, the larger cabin turns left and has no foot traffic from other passengers. If however you choose the rear mini cabin, you’ll have everyone making their way past you, in a largely exposed setting. This isn’t a big deal per se, but if privacy and quiet are your game, this is not the way to play it.

The second, it’s really, really exposed The way the shape of the aisles and cabin align, there’s no setting in the business class cabin more exposed to light, noise or the occasional bump from a passing elbow.

If you want the best seats in Cathay Pacific’s A350 business class, shoot for the first row, or the last row of the main business cabin. That’s row 12 or 23 on the Cathay A350-1000, or rows 12 or 19 on the shorter A350-900.

As to the cabin itself, part of me wishes that Cathay had done more to liven up the environment on this plane, with big photos or increased mood lighting, as many such as Qatar Airways have done. They did not, but in classic Cathay style, it still exudes elegance. Just a bit understated for such an exciting new plane. After well known issues with seat manufacturing, it will be interesting to see how these cabins age.

Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class Seat

Coming directly off a 12 hour long haul on the Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER, I had a perfect reference point from which to judge the newer, more nimble aircraft in the Hong Kong based fleet. In this game of inches, the little things about this new seat really add up.

The first noticeable difference: added seat surface for sleeping. The previous iteration of the seat was always great for rest, but the new version makes use of less aircraft curvature to offer additional side padding where your legs and mid section may go. Not only does it look better, but you really notice it when you roll around. It’s also lead to increased storage space for larger items, which is lovely.

To experience the most of the additional bed width, be sure to choose a window seat. Even those traveling with someone else would have a more enjoyable experience sitting one after another in the window than side by side in the middle. Perhaps it’s a personal thing, but I just can’t justify sitting in the middle seats when the windows are so sleek and private.

As noted, a real positive with this new and improved seat is the added storage space. The eye level cubby offers a vanity mirror and plenty of room for phones, headphones or any other items, and the low level storage offered by lifting the extra padded surface is brilliant for hand bags, cameras or any other gear.

In Flight Entertainment

On virtually any Cathay Pacific flight, entertainment is huge. On the A350, you’re in for a treat. The HD screens are extremely sharp and the system speed is on par with many of the best offerings in the sky. It’s not the very fastest, but it’s much faster to operate, swipe and scroll than the 777 system. I love being able to seamlessly switch from using the controller to swiping on the screen itself.

Over the 40+ hours I spent over the course of the couple weeks in the sky, I enjoyed everything from The Big Short to Frasier, Somm Into The Bottle, a live Above & Beyond concert, Game Of Thrones, Indiana Jones and much more.

Food And Beverage

For a more in depth take on Cathay’s current food and beverage, this review of their 777-300ER may be more suitable. In general, the airline is middle of the pack and climbing in this regard. The Deutz champagne being served is lovely, the Islander Shiraz being served is passable, especially with spicy dishes and some very solid white wines do make their way onto the menu sometimes.

Food service was very prompt and always extremely efficient. I tend to avoid meals on planes in favour of eating in airport lounges beforehand, but I thoroughly enjoyed my “taste of Hong Kong” braised short ribs in beef broth with noodles. Very satisfying, bursting with flavour and it left me without the typical “ugh, why did I eat that” feeling you often find on planes.

The real highlight though: Hong Kong style milk tea and lovely chocolate pralines. The crew may have practically rolled their eyes when I asked for a fourth praline, but they did it in the most polite of ways. They were just so good, so get your hands on them while you can, before some a-hole like myself tries to eat them all.

Crew And Service

Over the course of four recent segments, I experienced 3.5 outstanding crews. I find Cathay Pacific to be amongst the most consistently excellent in welcoming guests, making special welcomes for very frequent flyers and going to the utmost effort to customise things to individual likings. I love how the crew collaborate to take orders and get food out promptly, especially on overnight flights.

My only exception to this was a mild issue on my final segment back to London, where the cabin service director of the flight was entirely disinterested in virtually everything, including an issue with my seat. Despite this, her crew offered very proactive service and took the utmost care, so one dud hardly outweighed the overall experience.

You should feel warm, fuzzy and welcome on any Cathay flight. I certainly did. If you don’t, I’d suggest bringing it up to a crew member wearing a black jacket or gold top immediately. They are the senior members on flights and I find they have the most power to rectify and improve any situation.

Overall Experience

I came optimistic, I left happy. I’ve now flown quite a bit on the Cathay A350 and giving it a spin on longer routes was good fun. I really think of this experience as nothing that “wows” you, but one that does so many things consistently right that expectations are always met. Crews are professional, the seat is very current and the sleep products are getting better by the day. Throw in a real pillow and this is a top 10 business class experience.

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly featured on Good Morning America, BBC, The Sunday Times, Travel & Leisure, CNN and other leading news outlets. Obsessed with deals, destinations and luxury travel – Ott is constantly in search of an edge, and shares every travel trick here on GodSaveThePoints.com. Catch him in airports around the world, if you can.

This report matches my experience of CX J on A350 from UK to NZ and back on several recent trips. In the end, what matters is how human you feel after back to back 12 hour flights, and this hard product on this plane, with helpful and unobtrusive crews, is ideal. The food is not great, but anyone going through LHR, HKG, AKL, SYD etc etc has plenty of decent lounge choices and the novelty of gourmet dining on planes wears off pretty quick when your body clock is all over the place.

Also agree with what Ben says about row 11 centre seats. Avoid.

Row 12 window seats often seem to be empty, perhaps they are reserved for CX elites ? Crew have always been happy to let me move to these seats after takeoff.

A sound summation. I’d put Cathay as a consistent top ten runner in respect of the airborne product and maybe a consistent top five once (their own) lounges are included in the evaluation.

Wife and self generally do only about four to six sectors annually and always ‘fore and aft window’ rather than D/G or A/D, G/K. Window alignment is certainly better toward the rear of the main Business cabin. We prefer to sit mid cabin on any flights, or at least “mid” with regard to being as far from toilets and/or gallerys ahead/behind. 16/17 ‘do it’ for us with 17/18 next best. We like to stay off the ‘back wall’ (19) with it’s galley and toilet immediately behind. Similar thoughts for row 12 with toilets and gallery immediately ahead and the forward centre pair (11D/G) are to be avoided at ANY cost with toilet doors immediately alongside your left (or right) ear.

The mini cabin (rows 20/21) is similarly to be avoided at any cost, not only due to the boarding issue Gilbert mentioned, but more importantly, like many airlines, Cathay have isolated their PremEcom passengers in a section of the aircraft without any ‘cabin specific’ toilets. PremEcon pax (not unreasonably) expect better than having to trek halfway back through the economy cabin to queue for a toilet so they (some) push forward through the Business mini-cabin. I don’t know if Cathay have any specific policy and crew instructions on this matter but cabin crew certainly aren’t particularly proactive at ‘shooing’ PremEcon pax back the other way. Be prepared for a continual stream of toilet seekers from ‘behind’ if you accidentally end up in the mini cabin.

We live in Australia now and fly home at least once a year for our business li the UK we find Cathay Pacific five star on all fronts good is much better than many other firms service leg room all good fly with you all the time now

The only part missing on CX is the Matress for a better sleep. The seat covers are hard and not smooth enough. Many other airlines offering the Matress in business class and it gives you a much better sleep and overall better feeling after a long flight.